Academic Staff

Professor Johannes M M Chan SC (Hon) 陳文敏

PROFESSOR JOHANNES M M CHAN is Professor of Law and former Dean of the Faculty of Law (2002-2014), being the longest serving Dean of the Faculty. He was also a visiting professor to a number of universities in Europe and Asia, including being the BOK Visiting International Professor of Penn Law School, University of Pennsylvania (2014), Herbert Smith Freehills Visiting Professor of Cambridge University (2015), and a visiting fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University. In recognition of his distinguished contribution to legal development through both advocacy in courts and legal research and publications, he was honoured by the Chief Justice in 2003 by his appointment as the first (and so far the only) Honorary Senior Counsel in Hong Kong

Academic Work

He specializes in human rights, constitutional and administrative law, and has published widely in these fields. His books include Paths of Justice (2018); Law of the Hong Kong Constitution (with C L Lim, 2nd ed, 2015), Constitutional Law and Human Rights (Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong, Special Edition, vol 16, with Mr Justice Bokhary and others, 2015);, General Principles of Hong Kong Law (香港法概論)(with Albert Chen & Others, 3rd ed, 2015); Reflections at the Academia (翰林隨筆：在公義路上的反思)(2010).

Some of his recent articles/book chapters include:

Johannes Chan, “A Storm of Unprecedented Ferocity: Shrinking Space for Political Rights, Public Demonstrations and Judicial Independence in Hong Kong” (2018) International Journal of Comparative Constitutional Law (forthcoming)

Johannes Chan, “Maintaining Institutional Strength: The Court and the Rule of Law”, in Fiona de Londras and Cora Chan, China’s National Security and Hong Kong’s Rule of Law (Hart Publishing, 2018, forthcoming)

Johannes Chan and Elaine Ho, “Searching the Academy: A Chinese Opera as the Rule of Law and Legal Narrative”, (co-authored with Prof Elaine Ho)(2015) 18 Law Text Culture, (Special Issue on The Rule of Law and the Cultural Imaginery in Post-colonial East Asia,) 6-32 (40% contribution)

Johannes Chan, “Constitutional Protection of the Right to be Presumed Innocent and the Right against self-incrimination: The Hong Kong Experience’, (2013) Singapore Academy of Law Journal (Special Issue, Dec 2013) 679-713

Johannes Chan, “Administrative Law”, in S Young and Y Ghai (eds), Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal: Justice and Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong (Cambridge University Press, 2014), pp 417-446